The artist discusses Russia's new exhibition space, its fresh crop of billionaire collectors, and the retrospective that will take them all in.

MOSCOW—The art historian Svetlana Boym once called the momentous installations of Ilya and Emilia Kabakov “memory museums,” remarking that each total installation “turns into a refuge from exile.” Brilliant conjurors of the dusty relics and indelible visual narratives that resolve to form our memories, the Kabakovs show how the personal and political—the redolent nostalgia of childhood, the failing Soviet state—are ever-twinned in their ability to shape the flickering shadows of our consciousness. This month, the Kabakovs’ first-ever retrospective in Russia goes on view—an exhibition as sprawling as their mother country itself, filling three institutions, inspiring four catalogues, and providing the subject for a heavyweight-filled symposium on September 16 and 17 (featuring Robert Storr, Boris Groys, Amei Wallach, and Katja Degot, among others). Modern Painters talked to Emilia Kabakov on the eve of the show. 

How will the ideas of refuge and exile in your installations intensify or transform once the works are installed in Russia, the country they’re so often about?

Our works are not about the issue of refuge from a country; it is always refuge from the circumstances of life. These could be the same everywhere, even on another planet. Even in Russia, we felt like internal emigrants during the Soviet era. But Russia is a different country now, with different people, even a different language. So we think it’s important to show them the past and the present through our eyes, as outsiders. To make them look at their lives, through their memories. We just hope it will work. Of course, the Russian public will receive the total installations differently than international audiences; for Russian audiences, it’s their life, their atmosphere. This can either create very negative feelings or discussion. We hope for the latter.

How does Ilya feel about returning to his country, 20 years later, in such a grand, retrospective way?

At the present, we consider ourselves American artists who were born in the Soviet Union. And Ilya never actually emigrated anyway; he left the USSR for the exhibition and just kept traveling…

What are your thoughts about Moscow’s new Center for Contemporary Culture, where your show will in part be held?

It is an art space that has many prototypes in the West, the Kulturhuset in Sweden being just one example. There will be exhibitions, an art-education program, a library. It’s a nonprofit, subsidized by [Russian socialite] Dasha Zhukova and Roman Abramovich [a Russian billionaire who has been reported to be dating Zhukova], and I think it will make it possible for many people to see art and to participate in free, creative programs. It’s reminiscent of the Soviet time, when we had all those pioneer houses and summer camps for children. Not everything was bad then. Some things from that time can be used now, because they are positive and noncommercial. As long as it helps take children off the street, the CCC can only be applauded. We think it is only the beginning, which will hopefully set an example—the others will help or follow.

Russian collectors like Roman Abramovich have been the talk of art fairs and auctions of late. What do you think they will do for the Russian contemporary art scene?

Russian collectors are much younger than their European or American peers. They’ve just started; they’ve made mistakes, been taken advantage of by some dealers. But they are smart, they’re fast, and they’ll learn. They are no less important for the Russian and international artists than international collectors are. Actually, they are already international. We just have to accept this as a fact and not call them “Russian collectors” anymore. Ask about their role in the international market and say: Welcome to the club!

SEPT. 15–OCT. 14, PUSHKIN MUSEUM, CCC MOSCOW, AND M+J GUELMAN GALLERY, MOSCOW

"In Conversation With Emilia Kabakov" originally appeared in the September 2008 issue of Modern Painters. For a complete list of articles from this issue available on ARTINFO, see Modern Painters' September 2008 Table of Contents.